Baseball Draft 2014: Table of Day 1 Results and Grades for Major League Teams

The Blue Jays were one team to receive good value in Max Pentecost.Phil Sears/Associated Press

Day 1 of the 2014 MLB draft saw 74 prospective big-leaguers taken, leaving teams with plenty of upside and intrigue. With compensation and competitive-balance rounds thrown in, many organizations have infused their farm systems with some of the most exciting young talent in the game.

While not everyone selected on Thursday night will turn into a star, a few teams may have secured important building blocks to shape the next era of their team. The baseball draft is more difficult to predict than any other sport, so for now these grades and evaluations are based strictly on value.

With that, let's take a look at how each team fared through the first two rounds while also looking at a few of the most noteworthy teams from Day 1's action.

Round 1 Picks and Grades

Pick

Team

Player

Position

School

Grade

1

Houston Astros

Brady Aiken

LHP

Cathedral Catholic HS

A

2

Miami Marlins

Tyler Kolek

RHP

Shepherd HS

B+

3

Chicago White Sox

Carlos Rodon

LHP

N.C. State

A

4

Chicago Cubs

Kyle Schwarber

C

Indiana

B

5

Minnesota Twins

Nick Gordon

SS

Olympia HS

B+

6

Seattle Mariners

Alex Jackson

C/OF

Rancho Bernardo HS

A

7

Philadelphia Phillies

Aaron Nola

RHP

LSU

A

8

Colorado Rockies

Kyle Freeland

LHP

Evansville

A-

9

Toronto Blue Jays

Jeff Hoffman

RHP

East Carolina

A-

10

New York Mets

Michael Conforto

OF

Oregon State

A

11

Toronto Blue Jays

Max Pentecost

C

Kennesaw State

A-

12

Milwaukee Brewers

Kodi Medeiros

LHP

Waiakea HS

B

13

San Diego Padres

Trea Turner

SS

N.C. State

B+

14

San Francisco Giants

Tyler Beede

RHP

Vanderbilt

B

15

Los Angeles Angels

Sean Newcomb

LHP

Hartford

B+

16

Arizona Diamondbacks

Touki Toussaint

RHP

Coral Springs Christian Academy

A-

17

Kansas City Royals

Brandon Finnegan

LHP

TCU

B+

18

Washington Nationals

Erick Fedde

RHP

UNLV

B

19

Cincinnati Reds

Nick Howard

RHP

Virginia

A-

20

Tampa Bay Rays

Casey Gillaspie

1B

Wichita State

A-

21

Cleveland Indians

Bradley Zimmer

OF

San Francisco

A-

22

Los Angeles Dodgers

Grant Holmes

RHP

Conway HS

B+

23

Detroit Tigers

Derek Hill

OF

Elk Grove HS

A

24

Pittsburgh Pirates

Cole Tucker

SS

Mountain Pointe HS

B-

25

Oakland Athletics

Matt Chapman

3B

Cal State Fullerton

B

26

Boston Red Sox

Michael Chavis

SS

Sprayberry HS

A-

27

St. Louis Cardinals

Luke Weaver

RHP

Florida State

B

28

Kansas City Royals

Foster Griffin

LHP

The First Academy

B

29

Cincinnati Reds

Alex Blandino

SS

Stanford

A

30

Texas Rangers

Luis Ortiz

RHP

Sanger HS

A-

31

Cleveland Indians

Justus Sheffield

LHP

Tullahoma HS

B

32

Atlanta Braves

Braxton Davidson

OF

T.C. Roberson HS

A

33

Boston Red Sox

Michael Kopech

RHP

Pleasant HS

B

34

St. Louis Cardinals

Jack Flaherty

RHP

Harvard-Westlake HS

B-

35

Colorado Rockies

Forrest Wall

2B

Orangewood Christian HS

A

36

Miami Marlins

Blake Anderson

C

West Lauderdale HS

B+

37

Houston Astros

Derek Fisher

OF

Virginia

A

38

Cleveland Indians

Mike Papi

OF

Virginia

A-

39

Pittsburgh Pirates

Connor Joe

OF

San Diego

C+

40

Kansas City Royals

Chase Vallot

C

St. Thomas More HS

A-

41

Milwaukee Brewers

Jacob Gatewood

SS

Clovis HS

B+

Order via CBSSports.com

Round 2 Picks and Grades

Pick

Team

Player

Position

School

Grade

42

Houston Astros

A.J. Reed

1B

Kentucky

A

43

Miami Marlins

Justin Twine

SS

Falls City HS

B-

44

Chicago White Sox

Spencer Adams

RHP

White County HS

A-

45

Chicago Cubs

Jake Stinnett

RHP

Maryland

A-

46

Minnesota Twins

Nick Burdi

RHP

Louisville

A-

47

Philadelphia Phillies

Matt Imhof

LHP

Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo

B

48

Colorado Rockies

Ryan Castellani

RHP

Brophy Jesuit Prep School

B+

49

Toronto Blue Jays

Sean Reid-Foley

RHP

Sandalwood HS

A

50

Milwaukee Brewers

Monte Harrison

OF

Lee's Summit West HS

B+

51

San Diego Padres

Michael Gettys

OF

Gainesville HS

A-

52

San Francisco Giants

Aramis Garcia

C

Florida International

B+

53

Los Angeles Angels

Joe Gatto

RHP

St. Augustine Prep

C+

54

Arizona Diamondbacks

Cody Reed

LHP

Ardmore HS

A-

55

New York Yankees

Jacob Lindgren

LHP

Mississippi State

B

56

Kansas City Royals

Scott Blewett

RHP

Baker HS

B-

57

Washington Nationals

Andrew Suarez

LHP

Miami

B

58

Cincinnati Reds

Taylor Sparks

3B

UC Irvine

B-

59

Texas Rangers

Tiquan Forbes

SS

Columbia HS

A-

60

Tampa Bay Rays

Cameron Varga

RHP

Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy

B

61

Cleveland Indians

Grant Hockin

RHP

Damien HS

C+

62

Los Angeles Dodgers

Alex Verdugo

OF

Sahuaruo HS

B+

63

Detroit Tigers

Spencer Turnbull

RHP

Alabama

B

64

Pittsburgh Pirates

Mitch Keller

RHP

Xavier HS

A-

65

Oakland Athletics

Daniel Gossett

RHP

Clemson

B+

66

Atlanta Braves

Garrett Fulenchek

RHP

Howe HS

B+

67

Boston Red Sox

Sam Travis

1B

Indiana

B+

68

St. Louis Cardinals

Ronnie Williams

RHP

American Senior HS

B+

69

Arizona Diamondbacks

Marcus Wilson

OF

Junipero Serra HS

B

70

Arizona Diamondbacks

Isan Diaz

SS

Springfield Central HS

B-

71

St. Louis Cardinals

Andrew Morales

RHP

UC Irvine

B-

72

Tampa Bay Rays

Brent Honeywell

RHP

Walters State CC

B-

73

Pittsburgh Pirates

Trey Supak

RHP

La Grange HS

B

74

Seattle Mariners

Gareth Morgan

OF

Blyth Academy

B

Order via CBSSports.com

Houston Astros

Holding the top overall pick for the third consecutive season, the Astros added one of the highest-upside arms in recent years in prep school lefty Brady Aiken. It was not entirely surprising to see the Astros opt for Aiken, who many scouts see as one of the surest things in the draft, per ESPN's Jayson Stark:

Indeed, despite the shaky reputation that dogs high school prospects (especially arms), Aiken is far from the typical type of prospect. As ESPN's Tim Keown relays, amateur scouts are more comfortable with Aiken not only because of his makeup but because he has already been on the radar for several years:

'Teams have probably seen him 100 times,' said John Manuel, who has covered amateur baseball for Baseball America for 17 years. 'They've had national crosscheckers and area scouts and even international scouts on him. There's an extensive track record, more in line with a college player.'

Apart from the first overall pick, Houston also received excellent value with the next two picks, a pair of bats in Derek Fisher and A.J. Reed. Fisher, a prep school prospect, broke his hamate bone after a hot start to his season, but he returned to post a .281/.340/.415 slash line. Reed led all Division I hitters with 23 home runs while at Kentucky, and he could eventually join George Springer and Jonathan Singleton to form a powerful middle of the order in Houston.

Seattle Mariners

Alex Jackson falling to No. 6 was a dream scenario for the Mariners, who continue their perpetual search for power bats. Interestingly, Bud Selig announced the class' top prep bat as an outfielder rather than a catcher, a distinction that could move his ETA up a year or two if it sticks.

Regardless, while Seattle's farm system is chock-full of high-upside arms, the Mariners do not have much in the way of future power potential apart from Austin Wilson and D.J. Peterson. Therefore, according to the Seattle Times' Larry Stone, Mariners general manager Jack Zduriencik believes Jackson's right-handed upside is an invaluable commodity:

Yeah, you’ve noticed. It’s difficult. It really is. Especially a right-handed bat. We’ve talked about that a lot. We’re talking about it now. It’s funny, I remember years ago it was left-handed bats, trying to find a really good left-handed hitter. Now it just seems it’s the right-handed bat that’s at a premium.

Seattle's second-round pick is not as well-rounded or projectable a hitter as Jackson, but he offers even more power potential than the sixth overall pick, per Greg Johns of MLB.com:

Gareth Morgan has the profile to project as a right fielder at some point, so Jackson's versatility could come in handy if both picks work out. Morgan possesses one of the top power bats in the draft, so he represents excellent value in the competitive-balance stages of the second round.

Toronto Blue Jays

Arguably no team received better Day 1 value than the surprise AL East leaders, who continue the early summer's good vibes.

The Blue Jays' first selection, Jeff Hoffman, will need a year off due to Tommy John surgery. Using the ninth overall pick on such a prospect naturally carries risk, but as ESPN's Christopher Crawford opines(subscription required), Toronto may have received a top-four talent:

If Hoffman were healthy, he would have been a lock for the top four, as some compared him to a poor man's Adam Wainwright. Taking a pitcher who won't be able to throw for your organization for close to a year is a risk, but the Blue Jays have been known to take chances such as this, as seen in the fact that they didn't sign two of their top three first-round picks.

Even if Hoffman does not pan out as expected, the Blue Jays backed up their top pick with two more high-upside prospects:

Max Pentecost is arguably the best pure catcher in this class, as his eye-popping .423/.483/.631 batting line carried Kennesaw State into the NCAA tournament. With above-average tools across the board, Pentecost has a good chance to develop into a major league regular at a scarce position.

At the beginning of the second round, the Jays received first-round talent in Sandalwood's Sean Reid-Foley. The tall righty was one of the most polished prep pitchers available, as his four-pitch arsenal and advanced feel suggest a high-floor prospect.

Hoffman and Reid-Foley could soon join Aaron Sanchez and Marcus Stroman to form a quartet of intriguing rotation arms.